Myth of the Fingerprints

[Goldfinger]

As noted in a previous question- I am selling my old computer. I have heard rumors about people finding these old computers- then extracting personal information like credit card numbers- social security numbers,ect from them for illegal uses- even though this information has been "DELETED". Is this a myth or do things like this happen frequently to the point where I should worry about it? What do you all do with a computer that has had personal information on them and then decide sell the computer? Maybe I've been watching too many movies.

Thanks

Goldfinger

 

[ethernet]

I don't know if peopel really do that, if you're really concerned replace the HDD, i would just do a full reformat (make sure you use a program that does a full reformat not a quick one) and not worry about it, it should cover over everthing.

 

[Eiremax]

files will stay on the hard drie until there over written they can be retrieved using various disk recovery softwares

try

http://www.all-internet-security.com/secure_file_shredder.html

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

these are disk shredder they overwrite your data with 111 & 000 and sometimes Hex ABCDEF .

theres a few different brands out there

 

[s@int_N1ck]

You can use Maxtor PowerMax to fully format your HDD.
It does not necesarrily need to be produced by Maxtor- I used it on my
Seagate Barracuda and it worked fine.

download at
http://www.maxtor.com/
or just do a google search

 

[Lax]

files will stay on the hard drie until there over written they can be retrieved using various disk recovery softwares

try

http://www.all-internet-security.com/secure_file_shredder.html

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

these are disk shredder they overwrite your data with 111 & 000 and sometimes Hex ABCDEF .

theres a few different brands out there

I like BCwipe (dunno why) was the first one I tried and seemed to be the easiest to use.